Brian WestoverGoogle Chromebook Pixel (2015)The newest Google Chromebook Pixel is luxurious and laden with impressive features, but even if it's the best Chromebook available&#151;and it is&#151;the thousand-dollar price will be a barrier for many.

The newest Google Chromebook Pixel is luxurious and laden with impressive features, but even if it's the best Chromebook availableand it isthe thousand-dollar price will be a barrier for many.

Over the last few years, Google's Chrome OS has morphed from an interesting thought experiment (What if your browser was your operating system?), to a robust category of inexpensive hardware. Since then, Chromebooks have cropped up on college campuses, high school classrooms, and in homes, topping various lists of best-selling systems and bringing a very different PC experience to all sorts of people, from power users to technophobes, with pretty much every major manufacturer producing a Chromebook of its own.

The newest Chromebook Pixel ($999 as tested) is Google's über-Chromebook, loaded with features, made with intense attention to detail, and free from the razor-thin profit margins that dictate the design of budget-friendly Chromebooks like the Acer Chromebook C720P-2600 or the Editors' Choice HP Chromebook 11. The result is an impressive system, easily the best Chromebook on the market, but at a price that is sure to limit its appeal.

The Puzzling Pixel Now, if you've looked at Chromebooks in the past, you might be scratching your head over the Pixel. It looks a heck of a lot like the latest Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch, and it's priced like the HP Spectre x360 13t (13-4003). Unlike these two systems, however, it's not running Apple's Mac OS X, or Windows 8.1; it's running Chrome, Google's Web-centric OS most frequently seen on systems selling in the $300-to-$400 range. So what's the deal?

The deal is that the Chromebook Pixel, like the original 2013 iteration, isn't aimed at the average shopper. When Google blasts out its vibrant, noisy "For Everyone" ads, it isn't talking about the Pixel, but the more affordable models, like the Acer C720P-2600, the HP Chromebook 11, or the Samsung Chromebook 2 (XE500C12-K01US). So who is the Pixel for?

First, the Pixel for developers. If you are a Chrome developer, this is THE laptop to buy. It offers every feature seen in the myriad Chromebooks today, all in one tidy package. Second, this is for the manufacturers of other Chromebooks. The Pixel serves as Google's showpiece, demonstrating how far the Chrome paradigm can be taken, and what features it is ready and able to support. These same features then trickle down to the less expensive models. Anything that the Chromebook can do, the Pixel can do. Gesture controls? Yup. Touch screen? Check. The latest ports? Si. Mobile broadband? You can get that, too, for an extra $300.

And that's the real appeal of the Pixel. Hands down, it's the best Chromebook out there, in terms of build quality, features, and a smooth, seamless experience. If there's any one feature of the Pixel that has you intrigued, you can probably find it elsewhere, and for much less.

Touch screen? The Acer C720P-2600 has that. Larger screen size? There are other 13-inch systems out there, like the Asus Chromebook C300 (C300MA-DB01), or you can go even larger with the Acer Chromebook 15 (CB5-571-C09S). If you like the Pixel's high-resolution display, there's something similar on the Toshiba CB35-B3340 Chromebook 2. Mobile broadband is also available on the HP Chromebook 11 (Verizon LTE). In fact, it seems that the only features the Pixel has that current Chromebooks don't is USB-C port connectivity (more on that later), and truly premium construction.

DesignIn terms of the look, the new Pixel keeps everything we liked about the previous model. The chassis is nearly identical, with a flat, slab-like profile, measuring 0.6 by 11.7 by 8.8 inches (HWD). Made of milled aluminum, it looks a heck of a lot like the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch, Retina Display, but with sharper lines and less rounding at the corners. At just 3.3 pounds, it's in the same weight class as the 3.4-pound MacBook Pro and the 3.26-pound HP Spectre x360 13t (13-4003). In a category dominated by cheap plastic and small screens, the Pixel's larger dimensions and aluminum chassis feel refreshingly luxurious.

A piano hinge runs along the back of the laptop, opening and closing smoothly, and standing up to all of the taps and swipes that come with a touch screen. The aluminum is anodized a dark-gray color, which is nicely offset by a glowing light bar near the edge of the lid that glows in Google's rainbow of colors. That light bar doubles as a convenient battery charge indicator; tap twice on the closed lid, and you'll see a glowing green for a full charge, red for near empty, and a yellow meter showing how much charge you have in between.

If the light bar is a treat, the display is a feast. The 12.85-inch screen takes on an unusual 3:2 aspect ratio, and offers multitouch capability and 2,560-by-1,700 resolution. At 239 pixels per inch (ppi), that's a slightly higher pixel density than the Retina display on the Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch (227ppi), but it's close enough that it's hard to notice the difference. Google opted for the non-traditional aspect ratio to better display online content. Is it better? That's up for debate, but I never felt restricted or hindered by it while using the system. Touch is also an uncommon feature on Chromebooks, but we've seen a couple of systems offer it in the past. The edge-to-edge glass and narrow bezels of the display are nice, and touch feels like a natural addition to the Chrome experience.

Like the touch screen, the touchpad has a glass surface, which feels silky smooth while swiping and scrolling. All of Google's gesture controls are supported, like two-finger tap for right click, three-finger tap for middle click, two-finger scrolling, and swiping left and right for forward and back through webpages. The only common gesture not offered on the touchpad is pinch to zoom, but that function is available on the touch screen. The keyboard is also quite nice, with a chiclet design and automatic backlight that turns on and off depending upon the lighting of the room and whether your hands are near the keyboard.

The layout is also a little different from the standard layout you would find on a Windows or Mac machine. The function keys (F1-F12) have been replaced with Chrome-specific functions, like forward, back, and refresh browser buttons, buttons to take a window full-screen or sort through multiple windows, and controls for screen brightness and audio volume. The Caps Lock key has been replaced with a dedicated search button (a move I wish Windows systems would emulate), and there's no Windows or Apple key to contend with. If you've used a Chromebook before, these aren't surprising—it's the standard Chrome keyboard layout—but the keyboard will feel exceptionally nice compared with other models.

The keyboard also functions as an exhaust for the two internal cooling fans, and the grill for internal speakers. The sound quality is sharp and clear, and the volume gets loud enough to be heard by someone in the next room.

Features When it comes to ports and features, Google isn't holding anything back. For starters, you'll find not one, but two USB Type-C connectors, which double as charging ports for the laptop. Thanks to the new port's higher throughput, you can also adapt USB-C to video outputs, like HDMI or DisplayPort (you'll need an optional adapter dongle) with up to 4K resolution. Unlike the recently announced Apple MacBook, which also uses USB-C, Google still includes all of your other common ports, outfitting the Chromebook Pixel with two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. By including both the old and new, the Pixel has all the usability of a current laptop, but also lets developers start looking at how USB-C might be used in the future.

For connectivity, the Pixel is equipped with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, in a 2x2 configuration for better throughput and reliability. Bluetooth 4.0 is also included for connecting wireless peripherals, like mice and keyboards.

For local storage, the Pixel has a 32GB solid-state drive (SSD), which isn't much to speak of—though it's twice the usual 16GB allotment found in the least expensive Chromebooks. A lot of folks will complain about the skimpy local storage, but that isn't anywhere near the hindrance it might first appear to be. This is a system built for the cloud, and Google throws in a ton of storage space with your purchase; 1TB of Google Drive storage space, free for three years (you'll need to redeem this offer within 180 days of purchase). That's a heck of a lot more than the free 100GB normally included with inexpensive Chromebooks, and it significantly changes the value equation for the Pixel. Currently, Google is offering 1TB of cloud storage for $10 per month, which would run you nearly $360 over three years. If you were already looking at the 1TB Google Drive subscription, it's a good incentive to consider the Chromebook Pixel.

Like other Chromebooks, Google Drive is central to the Chrome experience, since all of the other productivity apps, like Docs, Sheets, and Slides (Google's answer to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) all work with it. Finally, as a Chromebook, the Pixel won't support any of the software you would use on a traditional PC. Instead, when you log into the system for the first time, all of your Chrome and Google stuff syncs automatically—your G-Drive files, Chrome bookmarks, and the same preferences and history as your usual Chrome browser. Instead of the usual software, a Chromebook uses apps and extensions from the Chrome Store. Many of these apps can also be set up for offline use, so you can stay productive even without a ubiquitous Wi-Fi connection, but most Chrome users will be pretty well-connected regardless.

Now, it's worth noting that this is not exactly the same Chrome OS that the original Google Chromebook Pixel was running in 2013. While the underlying OS is the same, the ecosystem of apps and services available for Chrome has grown immensely. New apps exist that can replace almost any piece of software you might think of as essential, whether it's, say, for photo editing, tax preparation, or education. Even Android apps are beginning to get Chrome support. Chrome still has some limitations—it's still heavily dependent upon a Web connection, and there aren't always apps that offer a one-to-one replacement for your favorite software, but the capabilities of the OS have only grown, and the limitations become less significant every day. Plus, because Chrome updates automatically, you'll always be running the most recent version of the OS. Google covers the Pixel with a one-year warranty.

Performance The Pixel may offer several unique features, but the biggest difference is under the hood, thanks to a 2.2GHz Intel Core i5-5200U processor. Compared with the usual Intel Celeron and Atom processors used in most Chromebooks, this is a giant leap in processing power. We've seen a couple other models that have Intel Core i3 processors, like the Dell Chromebook 11 (Intel Core i3) and the Acer C720 Chromebook (C720-3404), but this takes things even further.

For most uses, the only difference will be a slightly faster, slightly smoother experience—because of Chrome's Web-dependent design, a bump in processor capability doesn't necessarily translate into support for different applications. For most of your browsing, you'll just notice that things load a little faster, and you can pile on several tabs and media streams simultaneously without the system slowing down. This is especially helpful in Google Hangouts, where multiple video streams can overwhelm the average Chromebook. With the significantly improved multitasking offered by the Core i5 processor, you can run multiple streams stutter-free.

Boot times are also shortened, thanks to the hardware. The Chromebook Pixel boots up in 5 seconds, and wakes from sleep in less than 2 seconds. That's as fast, or faster, than any other Chromebook we've tested.

Nearly every aspect of the new Pixel is a dramatic improvement over the average Chromebook, and battery life is no exception. In our rundown test, the Pixel lasted a category-leading 12 hours. That's more than long enough to carry you through a workday and well into the evening without having to find an outlet. The longest-lasting basic Chromebook is the Asus C200 Chromebook, which lasts 11:14. By comparison, the HP Chromebook 11 (5:27), the Acer Chromebook C720P-2600 (7:20), and the Dell Chromebook 11 (Intel Core i3) (9:00) all fall short by hours. Even among high-end competitors, like the Apple MacBook Pro (11:10), the Pixel is notable. Given that the previous Chromebook Pixel only managed 4 hours this is a huge leap forward.

With the switch to USB-C, however, there's one other big boost to battery performance, and that's charging time. The spec allows much higher wattage-power delivery (up to 100 watts), which translates into hours of battery life from only minutes of charging. Specifically, Google claims that 15 minutes of charging will yield 2 hours of usable battery life, and while we don't have a standard test in place for charging times, that claim held true during our review period.

Conclusion The newest Google Chromebook Pixel is impressive. It has made dramatic improvements over the previous iteration, with better battery life, new ports and features, and it has the benefit of running a far more capable and flexible version of Chrome OS than the 2013 version did. It is, hands-down, the best Chromebook on the market, but it is also the most expensive by far. Unless you're a developer, building apps and extensions for Chrome OS, there's almost no reason to buy this system at this price. For the same amount of money, you could buy three or four standard Chromebooks, and have a similar overall experience. As a result, the LTE-enabled HP Chromebook 11 remains our top pick.

Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)

Bottom Line: The newest Google Chromebook Pixel is luxurious and laden with impressive features, but even if it's the best Chromebook available&#151;and it is&#151;the thousand-dollar price will be a barrier for many.

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About the Author

Brian Westover is an Analyst for the Hardware Team, reviewing laptops, desktops, and storage devices.
As a child, Brian was frequently asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" His answer alternated between Superman and Batman. This was cute when he was five, but worrisome at seventeen. Naturally, he is now a journalist, writing about tec... See Full Bio

Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)

Google Chromebook Pixel (2015)

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